


Anything for Her

by anactualforrealadult



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Gay dads, Harassment, Homophobia, M/M, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Racism, but it needed to be out of my head, everything is ok in the end though, i made myself sad writing this, izumi is baby and they just want to protect her from stupid people, sokka just has to deal with some bullshit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26458432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anactualforrealadult/pseuds/anactualforrealadult
Summary: “Hello, this is your husband speaking.”  Regardless of how long they had been married, Zuko still relished his ability to use the title.“Hey babe,” Sokka’s voice sounded strained and tight, but was clearly trying his best to sound unaffected.  “Do you have a few minutes to entertain your daughter?”Sokka gets harassed while out with Izumi.  Zuko does his best to comfort him.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 545





	Anything for Her

Zuko was startled out of his thoughts by the buzz of his phone. He had been completely focused on his latest case file, two children bouncing around the foster system. Their mother had expressed interest in reuniting, but he would need to do several checks before proceeding. Putting the case aside for now, he checked his phone: Sokka. Probably double checking if there was anything they needed from the store after picking Izumi up from pre-school. They had a rotating schedule to pick her up so the other parent could get some alone time at home or finish up some extra work at their job. The rest of the office was empty at the moment, so he didn’t hesitate to stay at his desk and pick up.

“Hello, this is your husband speaking.” Regardless of how long they had been married, Zuko still relished his ability to use the title.

“Hey babe,” Sokka’s voice sounded strained and tight, but was clearly trying his best to sound unaffected. “Do you have a few minutes to entertain your daughter?”

Zuko’s body went stiff at Sokka’s tone. “Yeah, is everything ok?”

“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s fine.” He sounded anything but fine. “I just-I need-I’m going to switch you to video and pass you over.”

Something was definitely up, but Zuko decided not to press. Sokka clearly needed him to take over parenting for a second, and he would never pass an opportunity to talk to his child. He pulled the phone away from his ear, watching as the video invitation came in. Accepting quickly, he saw the inside roof of Sokka’s car as the phone was moved around and eventually passed back to the four year old in the back, happily strapped into her carseat.

“Here, Zuzu, talk to Papa for a little bit.” Sokka’s fake happy voice sounded far away, and extra fake. 

“PAPA!” Izumi wiggled with delight and leaned in to give the screen a kiss. Zuko couldn’t help but laugh at his beautiful baby girl, so convinced that kisses could be transmitted through screens.

“Hey baby! How was school today? Did you have fun?”

“I got a sticker for helping Matthew clean his center, even though I wasn’t playing there! It’s a dinosaur sticker! And, and, and I played pirates on the playground, and I ran SO fast! But Kiaan said that girls can’t be pirates because only boys can learn how to fight, and Miss Lauren said he was wrong that girls and boys can both fight and everyone can play pirates and then she chased us around but she couldn’t catch us!”

Zuko smiled, he had always been a fan of Izumi’s teacher, and was glad she was breaking down gender roles for her small charges. “Well that sounds like a very busy day! Did you learn anything cool?” He noticed that the only movement of the screen was clearly from Izumi’s hands, not from the movement of the car like he expected. They were definitely parked, or at the very least pulled over somewhere. 

“Papa, did you know that there are tiny trees inside of _seeds_? We saw them with our looker glasses. Miss Lauren said if we have any seeds at home we can bring them in to show everybody.”

Slowly connecting the dots, Zuko remembers that the class is starting a unit on apples this week, which explains the tiny trees inside seeds. “Wow! I didn’t know that! You’re getting so smart, I bet you’ll be smarter than me and Daddy in no time.” Did they have apples at home? Maybe some oranges at least. If he finds a way to work one of the fruits into dinner they could have some seeds for Izumi to bring to school.

“Noooooo you and Daddy are too smart, I’m gonna be a billion years old before I’m smarter than you!”

“And how old will we be when you’re a billion?”

Izumi scrunches her nose up in thought, a look that mimics Sokka when he’s focused on a work project. “Uhhhhhhh two billion!” She broke into a giggle and Zuko followed. Clearly, she got her math skills from her Papa. There was a reason Sokka was the one with a doctorate in engineering, and Zuko still needed a calculator to figure out tips. 

“Ok baby, sounds like a plan.” He could continue to dissect Izumi’s day, but perhaps he could use his daughter to determine what was going on with Sokka. “So what did you and Daddy do after he picked you up from school?”

“We went to the store to get some fruit!” So Sokka had the same idea as his husband. “And then we were going to go to the park, but there was a man yelling when we were coming out of the store and it was scary so Daddy said we’re just gonna go home.

Oh, so that was it. 

It wouldn’t be the first time either of them had gotten harassed by random strangers, but now that they had Izumi, they did everything in their power to avoid confrontation or visible reactions when she was with them. It was something she would have to understand and learn to deal with as she got older, but for now, she didn’t need to be tainted with that knowledge just yet. Zuko was sure that the harassment could be worse in other parts of the country, considering the commonplace diversity of New Jersey, but there would always be a few assholes desperate to voice their opinions. 

“Oh that’s too bad,” He did his best to keep his face and voice neutral, not wanting to show his concern. They were clearly safe in the car, and Izumi didn’t seem to have noticed that the yelling was directed at her dad (and possibly at her as well, but he didn’t want to think about that). “Maybe you and I can go tomorrow after I pick you up!”

“YAYYYYY!” The phone shook with the excitement that can only be wielded by a four year old. “Papa, Papa can we go to the one with the _biiiiiggg_ slide?”

Zuko shuffled through the list of parks they regularly visited in his mind, trying to determine which one had the slide Izumi was probably thinking of. Lists he kept in his mind here in his thirties: bills to be paid, emails to be sent, parks with particularly large slides. Not the adult life he thought he would have twenty years prior. “Yeah we can definitely go to that one sweetie. Maybe Daddy can meet us when he gets out of work.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea honey.” Sokka’s voice suddenly cut in from the front seat. “Maybe I can get out of work early tomorrow, and Papa and I can both pick you up from school and spend extra time at the park to make up for today.”

Izumi’s face lit up like Christmas had just come early. Zuko barely had a moment to brace for the shrill scream his daughter let out. Unseen on the screen, Sokka was laughing. He sounded a little more normal, but Zuko could tell he was still forcing some of the laugh.

“Alright Zuzu, let’s let Papa get back to work and we can head home. Say bye!”

Izumi waved to the phone. “Bye Papa! I love you!”

Zuko blew her a kiss. “I love you too Zuzu, I’ll see you soon!” The phone was taken from Izumi’s hand, and he got a brief glimpse of his husband before the call abruptly ended. Sokka’s eyes were tinged red, and Zuko’s heart tightened seeing him distressed without being able to do anything about it. A moment later, a text notification popped up.

Husband TM

(4:04 pm)

Thanks. Needed a minute to just

breathe without freaking her out. 

We can talk about it more later

Zuko felt his heart unclench, just slightly, and shot back a message.

Zuko

(4:04)

Ok. Do you want me to pick up

pizza on my way home?

Sokka had stated his intention to cook dinner when they were getting ready in the morning, but somehow Zuko doubted he would still want to.

Husband TM

(4:05)

That would be great. I love you

Zuko

(4:05)

Love you more

Husband TM

(4:06)

Who me? I’m just a worm. 

Zuko

(4:06)

Best worm I know

Husband TM

(4:07)

You’re gonna make me start

crying again and I’ll swerve into

traffic, is that what you want?

Zuko

(4:07)

I know you’re not texting and

driving with our child in the

backseat

When another message didn’t pop up immediately, Zuko assumed that his point had been made. He put his head in his hands, just breathing. In, hold, out, hold. The world was a cruel place, and there were days he wished his daughter didn’t have to grow up knowing she could expect to be harassed for her obvious Asian heritage. Or for her father’s darker skin. Or the fact that she had not one father but two. The only thing that kept him from getting too distraught was the knowledge that at least she had gotten adopted by two people who understood how her life was going to be, and could teach her how to deal with it. She could have just as easily been adopted by a white couple, who would never be able to fully understand. In, hold, out, hold, once more. 

Just a few hours later, the whole family was snuggled under a pile of blankets in the living room, pizza box abandoned, fruit dissected, and seeds bagged for Izumi to bring to school. Moana had finished, and Izumi had fallen asleep halfway through Lilo and Stitch. She was pressed up against Zuko’s right side, and Sokka was snuggled deep into his left. 

“He said to ‘go back to Mexico’.”

Zuko shifted slightly to look at his husband, but Sokka stared resolutely at the screen, watching Stitch scare beachgoers. They hadn’t talked about that afternoon yet, not while Izumi was still awake. He brought his arm around Sokka and gave him a squeeze.

“I’m sorry.” Zuko knew that Sokka didn’t care as much about comforting words after these encounters, preferring just to be listened to. Besides, they had had some version of this conversation countless times between the two of them over the years.

“Better than being called a terrorist I guess.” Sokka tucked his head into his husband’s neck, movie abandoned for the moment. They let it play in the background while they just held each other quietly. For a moment, Zuko thought Sokka had fallen asleep, but a muffled voice spoke up again.

“He was following us down the street, I was so scared.” Zuko sucked in a deep breath, the image washing over him. “Big guy too. I had to cross the street to get him to stop.” Sokka was shaking a little. Zuko knew his husband could take most people in a fight, but having Izumi there added a level of risk neither of them were willing to take. And they wouldn’t want her to see that kind of violence either. 

Zuko said nothing, sticking to rubbing comforting circles on his husband’s back. Sokka was crying softly now, and Zuko knew him well enough to know that he had been scared for Izumi. They had gone through a lot to get her in their lives, the thought of anything happening to her, or her watching something happen to them, was heart breaking. Sokka’s tears were for the knowledge that someday she wouldn’t be so innocent, would understand the meanings behind the slurs and insults. They didn’t know when that day would come, but it was probably closer than they would like.

Izumi was carefully moved closer to the end of the couch, and Sokka was pulled into Zuko’s lap. It might have looked a little odd, his bulky taller husband on his smaller frame, but Zuko knew Sokka craved the feeling of being held as much as he did sometimes. They fit in each other’s arms naturally after all these years, like two perfect puzzle pieces. He took Sokka’s head in his hands and softly kissed it. One on the forehead, one on his jaw, one on the cheek with the taste of salty tears, and finally the softest kiss on his husband’s waiting lips. They both pulled back after a moment, foreheads resting against each other. Unsaid words were exchanged in the embrace. _I’m scared too, I wish you had been there, I wish we could protect her more, I love both of you so much.ˆ_

Eventually, Zuko pulled back to look at his husband properly, run his hands down Sokka’s tattooed arms. 

“Want to put Izumi to bed and have some sad sex?”

Sokka snorted, and smiled genuinely for the first time since Zuko had seen him that morning. “How romantic. I’m a lucky bastard.”

“I thought you were a worm.”

“Worms can be bastards.”

“Fair enough.” Zuko deposited his husband back on the couch, and reached for the remote to turn off the TV. Sokka had gone around Zuko to carefully cradle Izumi into his arms, holding her the way he had when they first brought her home four years ago. Zuko stood up next to him, brushing away the hair in Izumi’s face, and placing a gentle kiss there, soft enough not to wake her.

The walked silently together to their daughter’s room, Sokka placing her gently in the bed and Zuko tucking the blankets around her, making sure her favorite stuffed animal was near her head. A chirp came from the door, Druk having come from whatever corner of the house he had been lounging in to join Izumi on the bed. The cat could care less about the humans most of the day, but had long ago decided that his job at night was to protect Izumi, curling up against her tiny legs.

“I guess that’s our cue, Druk says that we are officially off duty.” Sokka watched their daughter sleep, pure love in his eyes.

“We’ll never be fully off duty. But that’s ok, it’s worth it.” Zuko took his husband’s hand and led him back to the door. 

There would always be angry, hateful people in the world. But at the end of the day, they had each other, and that was all that really mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> why did i write this, and why am I awake


End file.
